The present invention relates to a conveyor belt produced using a plastic, such as acetal resin, polypropylene, or ABS resin, and a conveyor apparatus which includes such a conveyor belt.
Conventionally, various kinds of conveyor belts for transportation have been available which include those composed of a woven fabric, those composed of a fabric coated with a resin, those formed from a spiral wire material, those produced by combining a spiral wire material and rods, those produced by inserting rods through belt constituent unit pieces, and sequentially connecting adjacent ones of the belt constituent unit pieces with each other, and those produced by sequentially connecting end portions of rods with each other. These conveyor belts have been used depending upon applications, in view of their advantages and disadvantages.
In a conveyor belt formed by inserting rods through connection holes of belt constituent pieces each formed by bending a plate into U-like shape, and a conveyor belt produced by sequentially connecting end portions of rods with each other, a conveyor surface or carrying surface is formed by the rods, and therefore large space can be easily obtained, assuring a high efficiency with which the carrying surface is cleaned. Thus, these kinds of conveyor belts have been widely used for such applications as cooling, drying and cleaning.
Further, the rods can engage with teeth of a sprocket, and therefore the belt conveyors can be driven by the sprocket.
When driven by a sprocket, the belt conveyor is prevented from slipping, and can be driven without applying large tensile force to the belt. This advantageously eliminates a need to increase the strength of a conveyor apparatus including rolls.